hi! tl;dr at bottom if you aren't interested in reading all of this (or want to see if it's worth ur time lol)! also sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, i'm new here and don't really know how to navigate :/
as the title says, i've been considering the possibility of going into medicine. i'm a current junior/rising senior at my flagship state school and orm (indian); cgpa is 3.7high (might go up depending on senior year), sgpa is nonexistent because i haven't taken a single science class thus far. i have taken statistics and a few other more "math-y" classes (game theory, calc, etc) and got As in all of them. i'm a history and polisci major (disadvantage?) and english/south asia studies minor. i'm heavily considering a post-bacc program; goucher, columbia, and bryn mawr seem especially interesting, and i like that most of them have in house mcat prep. my major concerns are a) will i be a competitive applicant for the "formal" post-bacc programs with linkage agreements, b) how exactly do these linkage agreements work and how competitve are they, c) are the "formal" post-bacc programs worth the cost compared to the diy post-bacc (i won't be going into debt but $50k is pretty 😳, esp on top of med school), d) would i be a competitive applicant for a top 70 md med school once i finish pre-reqs, in terms of experience and gpa (factoring out the mcat), and e) what sort of mcat score range would i want to get into a top 70 (ideally top 30) med school.
in terms research, i have absolutely no scientific research experience, and i don't know if it's possible to get considering i don't have a science background at all. i am, however, a research assistant for a polisci project where i work with a professor to statistically analyze women in politics. i'm also writing a thesis in history and did a semestor long independent research project, also in history, but again, none of these are scientific in nature, so idk if they add anything to my app.
i do, however, have pretty good ecs (i think). i was a critical language scholar for hindi last summer, in a pretty competitive fellowship within my university, and have a few minor university level scholarships. i'm also the president of four clubs (one of which is a volunteer club that works with the large homeless population within my majority-minority college town and the other is a chapter of the food recovery network that i began at my school), and i volunteer as a vpva crisis advocate (i serve as a confidential resource for victims of sexual/domestic violence, help them understand their options, and accompany them to the police office/nurse if necessary), at a south asian domestic violence women's shelter in my college town, and i'm going to be volunteering at a summer camp for children with major medical needs for two weeks this summer. needless to say, i have a pretty decent number of non-clinical volunteer hours. i also have a few internships but they are all polisci oriented (campaign and congressional). i have absolutely no clinical experience but i love children so i was thinking of applying to become a patient cuddler at my local children's hospital once i turn 21 (idk if this counts as clinical experience though.)
i also have no shadowing hours but my mother's a doctor (not practicing anymore) so we have family friends i could shadow, as well as a few relatives (is this allowed? do i have to find physicians that i don't already know?). like i said before, i ideally want to go to a top 70 med school (as do most, i'm aware) and in or close to a major metropolitan area on the east or west coast. tbh, geographical location is likely more important to me than ranking. with that said...
TL;DR:
A) Post-bacc -- to do, or not to do, that is the question: / whether tis' better to have a structured program / with in house mcat prep / or to take up the diy option / and be left possibly unmoored
B) College Confidential thread -- cc/pre-med-medical-school: "junior in college what are my chances for good post-bacc program plz help and how competitive are linkage agreements?"
C) u/spavbhaji on r/premed: "WAMC for top 70 med schools (preferably top 30) in metro area on east or west coast given lots of non-clinical volunteering + 3.7high cgpa? What MCAT score range should I aim for to be competitive at these schools?"
as the title says, i've been considering the possibility of going into medicine. i'm a current junior/rising senior at my flagship state school and orm (indian); cgpa is 3.7high (might go up depending on senior year), sgpa is nonexistent because i haven't taken a single science class thus far. i have taken statistics and a few other more "math-y" classes (game theory, calc, etc) and got As in all of them. i'm a history and polisci major (disadvantage?) and english/south asia studies minor. i'm heavily considering a post-bacc program; goucher, columbia, and bryn mawr seem especially interesting, and i like that most of them have in house mcat prep. my major concerns are a) will i be a competitive applicant for the "formal" post-bacc programs with linkage agreements, b) how exactly do these linkage agreements work and how competitve are they, c) are the "formal" post-bacc programs worth the cost compared to the diy post-bacc (i won't be going into debt but $50k is pretty 😳, esp on top of med school), d) would i be a competitive applicant for a top 70 md med school once i finish pre-reqs, in terms of experience and gpa (factoring out the mcat), and e) what sort of mcat score range would i want to get into a top 70 (ideally top 30) med school.
in terms research, i have absolutely no scientific research experience, and i don't know if it's possible to get considering i don't have a science background at all. i am, however, a research assistant for a polisci project where i work with a professor to statistically analyze women in politics. i'm also writing a thesis in history and did a semestor long independent research project, also in history, but again, none of these are scientific in nature, so idk if they add anything to my app.
i do, however, have pretty good ecs (i think). i was a critical language scholar for hindi last summer, in a pretty competitive fellowship within my university, and have a few minor university level scholarships. i'm also the president of four clubs (one of which is a volunteer club that works with the large homeless population within my majority-minority college town and the other is a chapter of the food recovery network that i began at my school), and i volunteer as a vpva crisis advocate (i serve as a confidential resource for victims of sexual/domestic violence, help them understand their options, and accompany them to the police office/nurse if necessary), at a south asian domestic violence women's shelter in my college town, and i'm going to be volunteering at a summer camp for children with major medical needs for two weeks this summer. needless to say, i have a pretty decent number of non-clinical volunteer hours. i also have a few internships but they are all polisci oriented (campaign and congressional). i have absolutely no clinical experience but i love children so i was thinking of applying to become a patient cuddler at my local children's hospital once i turn 21 (idk if this counts as clinical experience though.)
i also have no shadowing hours but my mother's a doctor (not practicing anymore) so we have family friends i could shadow, as well as a few relatives (is this allowed? do i have to find physicians that i don't already know?). like i said before, i ideally want to go to a top 70 med school (as do most, i'm aware) and in or close to a major metropolitan area on the east or west coast. tbh, geographical location is likely more important to me than ranking. with that said...
TL;DR:
A) Post-bacc -- to do, or not to do, that is the question: / whether tis' better to have a structured program / with in house mcat prep / or to take up the diy option / and be left possibly unmoored
B) College Confidential thread -- cc/pre-med-medical-school: "junior in college what are my chances for good post-bacc program plz help and how competitive are linkage agreements?"
C) u/spavbhaji on r/premed: "WAMC for top 70 med schools (preferably top 30) in metro area on east or west coast given lots of non-clinical volunteering + 3.7high cgpa? What MCAT score range should I aim for to be competitive at these schools?"
